Beet and Cabbage Borscht using Ground Beef

Borscht is a classic soup in Russian and Ukrainian cooking, there are many different variations of Borscht coming from Eastern Europe, some using pork hock or stewed beef, some with bacon and sometimes without meat at all. My great Oma would make this soup with cabbage and beets from her garden through fall and winter. In my recipe I suggest to use ground beef to reduce cooking and prep time, its not traditional but its efficient and still hits all the flavours in the soup, a favourite comforting and balanced meal during cool weather when all of these ingredients are in season!

I have made this soup without meat as well, but I definitely prefer it with, there is more flavour and it’s a more satiating, complete meal with sufficient protein. Vegans can certainly omit the meat, but I would suggest to add in some beans for protein, and to use some nice olive oil to sauté the onions.

Soup Ingredients

• One pound or 500 g ground beef - grass fed if available * skip beef for vegan + add 1 can of white navy beans or cannellini beans near the end of cooking

• 2-3 slices of thinly sliced pasture raised pork bacon if you have it * omit for vegan

• 1 medium onion peeled and diced small

• 2-3 medium potatoes peeled and diced into 1/2 - 1 inch cubes

• 2 medium carrots thinly sliced

• 1 medium celery stock finely diced

• 5 fresh cloves of garlic minced

• 2 bay leafs

• 1 398 ml can of organic peeled tomatoes, use crushed if you don’t like chunks

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 tsp each fresh pepper and sea salt

• 5-6 cups beef or chicken stock (use bone broth if you have it) * use veg stock for vegan

• 3 cups thinly sliced green cabbage, about 1/2 of one medium cabbage

• 2 medium red beets peeled and thinly sliced, or you can grate them!

• 1 bunch of fresh dill, sliced thin (if you don’t have dill available use fresh parsley)

Garnish Ingredients

• additional finely sliced fresh dill

• sour cream or plain ff yogurt

Method

1. Begin by sautéing onions, bacon and ground beef together over medium heat in a large soup pot or dutch oven until meat is browned, season with salt and pepper

2. Add minced garlic, potatoes, celery, carrots, stir and sauté for another 3 - 5 minutes

3. Add remaining ingredients except dill, beets and cabbage. Simmer until potatoes are nearly fork tender, about 15 - 20 min

4. Once potatoes are almost soft enough add cabbage and beets, simmer for another 5-10 minutes, just until beets are soft, avoid over cooking as beets will loose their bright colour

5. Stir in half of your fresh sliced dill or parsley, reserving the other half to use as garnish, you can throw it all in if you prefer

6. taste test, you may want to add more salt, pepper, or cider vinegar, traditionally this is a slightly sour and slightly sweet soup from the beets

7. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt on top! plus a few pinches more of fresh dill
   
   Enjoy!